Digital twin technology – An approach for Industrie 4.0 vertical and horizontal lifecycle integration

Abstract

Digital Twin technology is increasingly gaining importance for digitizing industry. Even if digital twin technology still needs fundamental research, its significance for industry has become very visible, as digital twin technology is a key success factor to professionalize Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) applications. Industrie 4.0 as an initiative to increase industrial added value is based on establishing connectivity between CPS and to enable communication between CPS. The industrial application scenarios for Industrie 4.0 aim at vertical and horizontal lifecycle integration concepts where digital twin technology plays an important role. This contribution explains major concepts of Industrie 4.0 and derives the role of digital twin technology. Furthermore, digital twin approaches are presented and as well as the proposal to use the STEP-technology (Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data, ISO 10303) as a fundamental basis for a comprehensive digital twin technology.

Assessing the awareness and readiness of the Malaysian furniture industry for Industry 4.0

“…In the furniture industry, the application of Industry 4.0 encompasses five components, i.e., the digital component, intelligent machine, horizontal networking, vertical networking, and the smart work-piece (Anderl et al 2018). It is widely accepted that Industry 4.0 takes the emphasis on digital technology to a whole new level, by improving interconnectivity through the internet of things (IoT), access to real-time data, and the introduction of cyber-physical systems.…”

Sustainable production and the role of digital twins–Basic reflections and perspectives

“…To date, the concept has been proposed for a large number of applications, including manufacturing 106 . Recent scientific literature thus provides a broad range of definitions of DTs as well as various descriptions of how to implement them 107 . Kritzinger et al present a comprehensive literature review of available DT concepts, resulting in a distinction of three stages of system integration 108 : The digital model (DM) represents a product virtually, while not exhibiting an automated flow of information between the product and the model.…”

“…As such, it contains a wide variety of information along the entire value chain that enables an autonomous production function, for example material composition, technical drawings, work plans, machining instructions, fasteners, parts lists, transport routes and/or emissions. Various authors, however, agree that the development of DTs has just started 106–108 . While the term is quite well defined, data connectivity, which is an essential prerequisite for system interoperability, is currently seen as the most difficult hurdle for implementation.…”

“…The number of relevant case studies is still limited 106–108 . In contrast to a variety of use cases that primarily focus on the demonstration of interoperability, root cause analysis, product quality monitoring and service‐oriented business models, 118 119,129 Barni et al developed a DT‐based LCA framework that represents a semi‐modular, modular, and scalable sustainability assessment and optimization tool 22 .…”

“…106 Recent scientific literature thus provides a broad range of definitions of DTs as well as various descriptions of how to implement them. 107 Kritzinger et al present a F I G U R E 5 Two perspectives of biointelligent production (based on Miehe et al 1,101,102 ) comprehensive literature review of available DT concepts, resulting in a distinction of three stages of system integration 108 : The digital model (DM) represents a product virtually, while not exhibiting an automated flow of information between the product and the model. The second stage, the digital shadow (DS), differs from the digital model by the incorporation of an automated upload of information from the real-world product to the virtual one.…”